South Yorkshire bully jailed for abusing partner

Patrick Reilly grabbed the woman around the neck so hard she couldn't breathe, and told her: "I don't care, you will learn to look me in the eye."

After he became aggressive at her home in Doncaster, police were called, prosecutor Richard Davies said on Friday.

Eight days earlier, on March 26, he grabbed her by the hair and banged her head against the wall so forcibly she lost consciousness.

When Reilly punched her in the face "blood spluttered all over the place."

The court heard Reilly called the woman on March 8 and demanded she pick him up from a fast food restaurant on Sprotbrough Road.

But when she got there he stamped on her i-phone and ordered her to buy him some food.

The woman, who was left with soft tissue injuries to her face and nose, said in a statement to police: "The whole affair has terrified me. It turned within a week into a violent, controlling relationship. I was subjected to the most controlling behaviour. I felt lost without anyone to turn to."

Reilly denied any assaults had taken place when he was interviewed by the police.

Mr Davies said he has 11 previous convictions for 14 offences, and in 2015 received a five year prison sentence for robbery.

Conor Quinn, mitigating, said Reilly had no relevant previous offences for domestic violence.

"He has been on remand for six months, with only three visits, and has often been confined to his cell for 23 hours a day."

Reilly, 27, of Downland Close, Doncaster, pleaded guilty to assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and criminal damage on the day of his trial, after initially denying the offences.

Judge Rachael Harrison told him: "You deliberately targeted a vulnerable victim and violated the trust and security of an intimate relationship.

"You should understand your victim is not responsible for the sentences I am about to pass. You have brought this on yourself."

The judge sentenced him to 19 months and imposed a restraining order for five years.

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